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REPORT 


OBJECT    TEACHING, 


MADE    AT    THE    MEETING    OF    THE 


NATIONAL    TEACHEKS*    ASSOCIATION, 


HELD    AT 


HARKISBUEG,    PENNSYLVANIA.,    AUGUST,     1865. 


BY    PROF.    S.    S.    GREENE, 


/     IN   BEHALF    OF   A   COMMITTEE   CONSISTING   OF 


Baknas  Sears,  D.  D.,  Providence,  K.  I. 
Prof.  S.  S.  Greene,  "  " 

J.  L.  PiCKARD,  Supt.  Schools,  Chicago,  III. 
J.  D.  Philbrick,  Supt.  Schools,  Boston,  Mass. 
David  N.  Camp,  State  Supt.  Schools,  Connecticut. 
K.  Edwards,  Principal  Normal  School,  Illinois. 
C.  L.  Pennell,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED    BY    MASSACHUSETTS    TEACHERS'    ASSOCIATION. 

1865. 


/  P  0 


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OBJECT    TEACHING. 


I^r*  In  presenting  the  Report  of  a  large  Committee^  residing  at  great 
distances  from  each  other,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  nothing  like 
concert  of  action  could  be  secured. 

All  the  members  have  been  invited  to  express  their  opinions 
upon  the  subject  of  the  report.     The  writer  alone  has  visited  Oswe- 
go for  the  specific  purpose  of  obtaining  the  requisite  facts.     The 
opinions  of  the  other  members,  so  far  as  expressed,  are  the  results 
of  their  individual  experience,  their  observations  of  object  teaching 
in  Oswego  or  elsewhere,  or  of  their  general  views  of  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  system.     These  opinions  will  have    their    appropriate 
2i     places  in  the  report.     An  excellent  communication  from  Rev.  Dr. 
^     Hill,  President  of  Harvard  University,  obtained  at  the  solicitation  of 
^     the  writer,  will  also  be  referred  to.     It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Pennell,  of  St  Louis,  was,  as  a  whole,  somewhat 
adverse  to  anything  like  systematic  object  teaching. 
5^        Without  further  preliminary  remarks,  your  committee  proceed  to 
^     inquire, 
£         1.  What  place  do  external  objects  hold  in  the  acquisition   of 

knowledge  ?     Are  they  the  exclusive  source  of  our  knowledge  ? 
^        2.  So  far  as  our  knowledge  is  obtained  from  external  objects  as 
5  a  source,  how  far  can  any  educational  processes  facilitate  the  acqui- 
f  sition  of  it  ? 
^        3.  Are  the  measures  adopted  at  Oswego  in  accordance  with  the 
)fc    general  principles  resulting  from  these  inquiries  ? 

That  all  our  knowledge  comes  from  external  objects  as  a  source, 
no  one  \yho  has  examined  the  capacities  of  the  human  mind  pre- 
tends to  claim.  Yet  no  inconsiderable  part  springs  directly  from 
this  source.     Nature  itself  is  but  the  unfolding  and  expression  of 


400517 


4  OBJECT   TEACHING. 

ideals  from  the  great  fountain  and  store-house  of  all  thought. 
With  the  Creator  the  ideal  is  the  original,  the  outward  form,  its 
embodiment,  or  expression.  The  rose  rs  a  thought  of  God  express- 
ed. With  us,  the  forms  of  Nature  are  the  originals,  the  derived 
conceptions,  our  borrowed  thoughts,  borrowed  since  it  is  the  thought 
of  the  Creator  through  the  mediation  of  Nature,  that,  entering  our 
minds,  becomes  our  thought.  His  claim  to  originality  is  most  valid 
who  approaches  nearest  the  divine  source,  observes  most  faithfully, 
and  interprets  most  accurately.  The  page  of  Nature  lies  open  to 
all.  No  intellect  is  so  weak  as  not  to  read  something,  —  none  so 
profound  as  to  exhaust  her  unfathomable  depths.  She  has  an  as- 
pect to  attract  the  gaze  of  early  infancy.  She  rewards  the  restless 
curiosity  of  childhood.  She  repays  the  more  thoughtful  examina- 
tions of  youth,  and  crowns  with  unfading  laurels  the  profoundest 
researches  of  the  philosopher.  She  stimulates  by  present  acquisi- 
tions and  prospective  attainments.  The  well  known  of  to-day  is 
bordered  by  the  imperfectly  known,  the  attracting  field  of  research 
for  the  morrow.  What  we  know  and  can  express  is  accompanied 
with  much  that  we  know,  but  have  no  power  at  present  to  express. 
Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hill,  "  It  is  the  thought  of  God  in  the 
object  that  stimulates  the  child's  thought."  Again,  "Text-book 
and  lecture  without  illustrations  frequently  fail  in  giving  just  and 
vivid  images,  and  generally  fail  in  awakening  that  peculiar  rever- 
ence which  may  be  excited  by  direct  contact  with  Nature  ;"  and 
again,  "  Nature  is  infinite  in  its  expressions,  and  a  natural  object 
contains  more  than  can  be  expressed  in  words.  The  great  object 
is  to  teach  the  child  to  see  and  read  more  than  you  yourself  could 
express  in  words."  He  gives  an  example  in  the  case  of  his  own 
child,  which  very  forcibly  illustrates  this  point.  "  I  w^as  walking," 
he  says,  "  yesterday  with  my  little  girl,  and  showing  her  plants  and 
insects  and  birds  as  we  walked  along.  We  were  looking  at  lichens 
on  the  trees,  when  she  suddenly  and  without  hint  from  me  said, 
'  The  maple  trees  have  different  lichens  from  the  ash ;  I  mean  to 
see  if  I  can  tell  trees  by  their  trunks  without  looking  at  the  leaves.' 
So  for  a  long  distance  she  kept  her  eyes  down,  saying  to  the  trees 
as  she  passed,  '  Elm,  maple,  ash,  pine,''  etc.,  and  never  failing. 
Now,  neither  she  nor  I  would  find  it  easy  to  express  in  words  the 
difference  between  some  of  the  elms  and  some  of  the  ashes,  though 


OBJECT    TEACHING. 


the  difference  was  easy  to  see."  How  emphatically  true  is  this 
last  remark  !  and  how  true  it  is,  that,  even  if  these  should  at  any 
time  be  clothed  with  language,  other  marks  and  distinctions  would 
unfold  themselves  equally  obvious  to  the  eye,  but  quite  as  difficult 
to  be  expressed  !  They  express  themselves  to  our  senses,  and 
through  them  to  our  understandings,  but  we  lack  words  to  bind 
them  into  our  forms  of  thought.  In  other  words,  the  forms  of 
nature  are  filled  with  thoughts  which  are,  at  all  times,  revealing 
themselves  to  us  in  advance  of  our  power  of  speech.  The  thought 
is  infolded  in  the  form,  and  the  form  unfolds  the  thought.  It 
becomes  ours  only  when  we  have  experienced  it.  Human  speech 
may  recall,  but  can  never  originate  it.  To  be  known  it  must  be 
seen,  or  realized  by  the  senses.  This  necessarily  lays  the  founda- 
tion for  object  teaching. 

But  while  Nature  is  thus  the  soitrce  of  a  vast  amount  of  our 
knowledge,  we  have  other  sources,  concerning  which  the  most  we 
can  say  of  the  objects  in  Nature  is,  they  are  only  the  occasions 
which  call  it  forth.  It  springs  spontaneously  and  intuitively  from 
the  depths  of  the  soul.  Such  thoughts  are  not  in  the  object,  but 
in  the  mind.  The  object  neither  embodies  nor  in  any  way  ex- 
presses them.  It  serves  merely  as  the  occasion  to  call  them  into 
consciousness.  The  boy  drops  his  ball  into  the  eddying  current, 
and  it  passes  beyond  his  reach.  Though  he  may  not  be  in  a  mood 
suflBciently  philosophical  to  put  into .  form  the  intuitive  truth  that 
one  and  the  same  object  cannot  be  in  the  hand  and  out  of  it  at  the 
same  time,  yet  his  vexation  and  grief  will  sufficiently  express  it. 

That  thought,  no  one  will  pretend,  is  in  the  ball  or  in  the  water, 
or  is  expressed  by  either.     It  is  simply  in  the  mind. 

So  in  the  use  of  a  native  language,  objects  are  most  efficient  aids 
in  giving  precision  to  the  application  of  words,  but  they  can  never 
supply  that  wonderful  power  of  discrimination  in  the  expression  of 
thought  which  marks  the  earliest  and  latest  periods  of  life.  Says 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Sears,  the  chairman  of  this  committee,  "  The  elo- 
quent speaker  does  not,  in  his  highest  bursts  of  oratory,  first  select 
words  and  parts  of  a  sentence,  and  from  them  afterwards  construct 
a  whole,  but  he  begins  with  the  whole,  as  a  germ  in  his  mind,  and 
from  it  develops  the  parts.  This  power  in  language  is  instinctive, 
and  can  no  more  be  achieved  by  rules  and  canons  of  criticism  than 


6  OBJECT   TEACHING. 

can  a  work  of  genius.  A  philosopher  with  his  great  intellect  can- 
not learn  to  speak  a  language  idiomatically,  feelingly,  and  naturally, 
any  quicker  than  a  child.  The  understanding  alone  may  make  a 
linguist,  or  a  critic,  but  not  a  natural,  fluent,  and  easy  speaker. 
Study  and  analysis  aid  in  comprehending  language,  and  in  correct- 
ing errors  ;  but  the  native  charms  of  idiomatic  and  touching  Eng- 
lish come  unbidden  from  the  depths  of  the  soul,  from  a  sort  of 
unconscious  inspiration." 

Then,  again,  all  subjects  which  are  purely  mental,  especially 
those  which  have  as  their  substance  things  hoped  for,  and  as  their 
evidence  things  not  seen,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  object  lessons. 
Thoughts,  feelings,  volitions,  intellectual  states  ;  all  notions  of 
space,  and  time,  of  esthetic  and  moral  qualities  ;  all  ideas  of  the 
absolute  and  the  infinite,  and  finally,  of  God,  as  the  unapproached 
and  unapproachable  fountain  and  source  of  all ;  all  these  rise  immea- 
surably above  the  realm  of  the  senses.  Indeed,  the  introduction  of 
material  forms  would  rather  obscure  than  aid  in  illustrating  many 
of  their  subjects.  Of  these  we  may  form  what  is  logically  called  a 
notion  by  combining  their  notcB  or  characteristics,  but  we  can  never 
represent  them  to  the  eye  of  the  mind  by  form  or  image. 

Objects  may  have  been  the  occasion  of  calling  up  many  of  these 
ideas,  but  they  are,  by  no  means,  the  source  of  them.  They  address 
themselves  to  the  interior  consciousness  alone,  never  to  the  senses. 
All  knowledge  springing  from  this  source  is  rational,  rather  than 
experimental.  Yet  let  it  not  be  understood  that  it  is  entirely  dis- 
sociated from  physical  forms.  We  use  this  rational  knowledge  in 
thousands  of  ways,   in  our   connection   with  the  external  world. 

Let  us  pass  to  our  second  inquiry.  So  far  as  our  knowledge 
has  its  source  in  external  objects,  how  far  can  any  educational  pro] 
cesses  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  it  ? 

The  thoughts  of  the  Creator,  as  expressed  in  the  outer  world, 
would  remain  forever  uninterpreted  but  for  the  presence  of  a 
knowing,  thinking  being,  whose  organism  is  in  harmony  with 
Nature.  In  early  infancy,  the  minimum  if  not  the  zero  point  of 
intelligence,  there  is  little  or  no  appearance  of  such  adaptation. 
We  see  only  a  sentient  being,  impelled  chiefly  if  not  wholly  by 
instinct.  The  highest  form  of  observation  results  in  mere  sensation. 
It  is  akin  to  that  of  the  brute.     Soon,  however,  the  child  awakes 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  7 

to  the  consciousness  that  what  he  sees  is  no  part  of  himself.  He 
distinguishes  between  himself  and  the  objects  around  him.  His 
intelligent  nature,  which  before  existed  only  in  germ,  is  called  into 
action.  He  interprets  his  sensations,  and  these  interpretations  are 
called  perceptions.  Now  commences  the  period  for  the  sponta- 
neous cultivation  of  the  perceptive  faculty.  Nature  is  ready  with 
the  proper  aliment  for  its  nourishment,  and  wise  is  that  parent  who 
sees  to  it  that  his  child  receives  without  stint.  This  is  the  period 
of  greatest  acuteness  of  this  faculty,  —  the  period  when  an  instinct- 
ive curiosity  supplies  the  place  occupied,  later  in  life,  by  a 
determined  will.  It  is  the  period  for  absorbing  knowledge  mis- 
cellaneously. Blessed  is  that  child  whose  lot  is  cast  where  Nature 
in  her  purest  and  loveliest  forms  daily  feasts  all  his  senses.  Now 
is  the  time  for  gathering  food  for  the  higher  faculties  which  exist 
either  in  embryo,  or  with  only  a  feeble  development.  The  knowl- 
edge gained  is  without  order,  and  purely  elementary.  During 
this,  which  may  be  called  the  nursery  period,  little  or  no  instruction 
can  be  given.  The  faculties  act  spontaneously,  and  with  very  little 
guidance  from  without. 

Even  at  this  period  the  faculty  of  memory  must  be  developed ; 
for  the  mind  instinctively  grasps  at  the  whole  of  an  object.  Yet  a 
single  perception  gives  only  the  whole  of  one  aspect.  Be  it  a 
mite,  a  shell,  or  a  mountain,  it  must  have  many  aspects,  —  an 
interior  and  an  exterior.  It  has  parts  and  properties.  After  the 
mind  has  contemplated  every  one  of  these  in  succession,  it  cannot 
then  form  one  complete  whole  without  retaining  all  the  previous 
perceptions.  This  process  of  taking  together  into  one  whole  all  the 
parts,  aspects,  and  qualities  of  an  object,  and  drawing  off  for  the 
use  of  the  mind  a  kind  of  photograph  or  mental  picture,  is  called, 
as  the  term  signifies,  conception.  It  is  the  result  of  many  varied, 
attentive,  and  careful  perceptions  in  connection  with  memory. 
These  conceptions,  again,  are  laid  away  in  the  memory  for  future 
use.  As  they  are  recalled,  and,  as  it  were,  placed  before  the  eye 
of  the  mind,  they  have  been  variously  denominated  conceptions, 
concepts,  ideas,  notions,  reproductions,  or  images.  The  name  is 
of  but  little  consequence,  provided  that  we  all  understand  them  to 
be  the  results  of  perception,  addressing  themselves  to  our  internal 
sight  or  consciousness,  —  that  they  are  quasi-objects,  internal  reali- 


8  OBJECT   TEACHING. 

ties,  with  corresponding  external  realities.  And  yet,  in  using  the 
term  conception  or  concept,  as  equivalent  to  the  image  mental 
picture  or  reproduction  of  a  single  object,  we  should  be  careful  to 
regard  it  as  a  conception  in  its  depth  and  intention,  not  in  the  whole 
breadth  or  extent  of  its  application  ;  for  to  reach  this  requires 
the  exercise  of  the  higher  faculties. 

In  the  period  of  infancy,  before  the  power  of  speech  is  developed, 
children  form  those  conceptions  whose  very  existence  stimulates  to 
the  use  of  language.  They  early  become  the  occasions  for  dis- 
tinguishing between  what  is  true  and  what  is  false,  what  has  an 
internal  seeming  with  an  external  reality,  and  what  has  an  internal 
seeming  without  an  external  reality. 

At  an  early  period  the  mind  finds  itself  able  to  project  forms  of 
its  own,  to  build  castles  and  palaces  and  create  gorgeous  scenes, 
and  dwell  upon  them  as  though  they  had  a  corresponding  external 
existence.  This  power  of  imagination  was  formerly  applied  only 
to  that  faculty  by  which  new  scenes  or  forms  were  produced  by 
combinations  derived  from  actual  conceptions.  Latterly  it  is  more 
generally  applied  to  the  faculty  of  forming  images,  whatever  their 
source. 

Still  another  power  manifests  itself  before  much  can  be  done  by 
way  of  direct  culture.  It  comes  in  answer  to  an  interior  demand. 
It  is  the  power  of  language.  Let  us  not  mistake  its  functions,  or 
the  mode  of  cultivating  it.  It  is  not  called  forth  by  any  human 
agency.  It  springs  up  spontaneously  as  soon  as  the  pressure  for 
utterance  demands  its  development. 

While  an  external  object  may  be  viewed  by  thousands  in  com- 
mon, the  conception  of  it  addresses  itself  only  to  the  individual 
consciousness.  My  conception  is  mine  alone  —  the  reward'  of 
careless  observation,  if  imperfect ;  of  attentive,  careful,  and  varied 
observation,  if  correct.  Between  mine  and  yours  a  great  gulf  is 
fixed.  No  man  can  pass  from  mine  to  yours,  or  from  yours  to 
mine.  Neither  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  term  can  mine  be 
conveyed  to  you,  nor  yours  to  me.  Words  do  not  convey  thoughts, 
they  are  not  the  vehicles  of  thoughts  in  any  true  sense  of  that  term  ; 
a  word  is  simply  a  common  symbol  which  each  associates  with  his 
own  conception. 

Neither  can  I  compare  mine   with  yours  except  through  the 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  9 

mediation  of  external  objects.  And  then  how  do  I  know  that  they 
are  ahke  ;  that  a  measure  called  a  foot,  for  instance,  seems  as  long 
to  you  as  to  me  ?  My  conception  of  a  new  object,  which  you 
and  I  observe  together,  may  be  very  imperfect.  By  it  I  may  attrib- 
ute to  the  object  what  does  not  belong  to  it,  take  from  it  what  does, 
distort  its  form,  or  otherwise  pervert  it.  Suppose  now  at  the  time 
of  observation  we  agree  upon  a  word  as  a  sign  or  symbol  for  the 
object  or  the  conception.  The  object  is  withdrawn  ;  the  conception 
only  remains  imperfect  in  my  case,  complete  and  vivid  in  yours. 
The  sign  is  employed.  Does  it  bring  back  the  original  object  ? 
By  no  means.  Does  it  convey  my  conception  to  your  mind  ? 
Nothing  of  the  kind  ;  you  would  be  disgusted  at  the  shapeless  im- 
age. Does  it  convey  yours  to  me  ?  No  ;  I  should  be  delighted 
at  the  sight.  What  does  it  effect  ?  It  becomes  the  occasion  for 
each  to  call  up  his  own  conception.  Does  each  now  contemplate 
the  same  thing  ?  What  multitudes  of  dissimilar  images  instantly 
spring  up  at  the  announcement  of  the  same  symbol !  —  dissimilar 
not  because  of  anything  in  the  one  source  whence  they  are  derived, 
but  because  of  either  an  inattentive  and  imperfect  observation  of  that 
source,  or  of  some  constitutional  or  habitual  defect  in  the  use  of  the 
perceptive  faculty.  What  must  be  the  actual  condition  of  children, 
then,  at  the  proper  age  to  enter  school  ? 

At  this  very  point  lie  the  greatest  deficiencies  in  the  ordinary 
teaching  of  our  schools.  It  may  be  reasonably  supposed  that  children 
at  the  proper  age  to  enter  school  have  substantially  correct  concep- 
tions of  the  limited  number  of  objects  which  fall  under  their  daily 
observation.  Of  this,  however,  we  must  not  be  too  certain,  especi- 
ally if  we  have  occasion  to  refer  to  marks  or  qualities  which  lie 
beyond  the  most  common  observation.  We  may  use  an  appropriate 
term  applied  to  some  familiar  object  —  some  aspect  of  a  tree  as  in 
case  of  Dr.  Hill's  little  girl :  the  object  may  be  a  familiar  one,  the 
term  may  have  been  heard  a  thousand  times,  and  yet  the  child  may 
never  have  dreamed  that  the  one  applies  to  the  other.  What  con- 
ception will  the  use  of  such  a  term  occasion  ?  Because  the  term 
and  its  application  are  familiar  to  the  teacher,  he  makes  the  fatal 
mistake  of  supposing  them  so  to  the  child.  His  teaching,  in  conse- 
quence, is  so  far  powerless.  Words  have  no  mysterious  power  of 
creating  conceptions.     True  it  is  that  the  mind,  at  length,  acquires 


10  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

the  power  of  divining  the  application  of  words  from  their  connec- 
tion.    But  we  must  not  presume  this  in  children. 

Again,  there  is  to  every  child  the  region  of  the  clearly  known, 
and  the  region  of  the  faintly  known,  lying  just  beyond.  All  terras 
which  apply  to  objects  in  this  region  have  but  a  misty  significance, 
and  are  often  misapplied.  Yet  in  the  schoolroom  they  arc  liable 
to  be  used  as  if  well  understood. 

All  terms  relating  to  what  is  unknown  to  the  child,  whether 
scientific  terms  pertaining  to  latent  properties  of  familiar  things  or 
familiar  and  popular  terms  pertaining  to  unknown  things,  are 
valueless  when  used  by  teacher  or  pupil. 

Again,  the  abstract  definitions  at  the  commencement  of  the  read- 
ing lesson,  or  taken  from  the  dictionary,  are  usually  deceptive  and 
unreliable ;  they  merely  exchange  an  unknown  term  for  another 
equally  unknown.     In  other  words,  they  do  not  create  conceptions. 

The  usual  process  of  teaching  children  to  read,  or  indeed  any 
process,  unless  great  pains  are  taken,  tends  to  make  the  direct 
object  of  reading  the  mere  utterance  of  words,  and  not  the  awaken- 
ing of  conceptions.  And  hence  arises  that  kind  of  chronic  stupidity 
which  so  often  marks  all  school  exercises.  Let  any  teacher  first 
fill  his  own  mind  with  a  vivid  picture  of  the  objects  which  the 
words  of  a  single  lesson  should  call  up,  and  then  call  upon  his 
best  class  to  repeat  the  language,  carefully  searching  for  their 
ideas,  and  he  will  find  the  deficiency  in  actual  conception  most 
astonishing. 

Again,  the  theory  of  teaching  with  many,  if  we  may  infer  their 
theory  from  their  practice,  is  to  require  the  pupil  to  commit  to 
memory  the  terms  and  statements  of  the  text-book,  whether  they 
awaken  conceptions  or  not,  and  to  regard  the  standard  of  excellence 
as  fluency  of  utterance  and  accuracy  in  repeating  terms. 

Now  against  all  this  way  of  teaching  language,  object  teaching, 
in  any  proper  sense  of  the  term,  raises  an  earnest  and  perpetual 
protest. 

But  what  is  object  teaching  ?  Not  that  so-called  object  teaching 
which  is  confined  to  a  few  blocks  and  cards  to  be  taken  from  the 
teacher's  desk,  at  set  times,  to  exhibit  a  limited  round  of  angles, 
triangles,  squares,  cubes,  cones,  pyramids,  or  circles ;  not  that 
which  requires  the  pupil  to  take  some  model  of  an  object  lesson 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  11 

drawn  out  merely  as  a  specimen,  and  commit  it  to  memory ;  nor 
is  it  that  injudicious  method  which  some  teachers  have  adopted  in 
order  to  be  thorough,  that  leads  them  to  develop  distinctions  which 
are  suited  only  to  the  investigations  of  science ;  nor  is  it  a  foolish 
adherence  to  the  use  of  actual  objects  when  clear  conceptions  have 
been  formed  and  may  take  the  place  of  physical  forms  ;  nor  is  it 
that  excessive  talking  about  objects  which  makes  the  teacher  do 
everything,  and  leaves  the  child  to  do  nothing,  —  that  assigns  no 
task  to  be  performed,  —  a  most  wretched  and  reprehensible 
practice ;  nor,  again,  is  it  that  which  makes  a  few  oral  lessons, 
without  anything  else,  the  entire  work  of  the  school. 

But  it  is  that  which  takes  into  the  account  the  whole  realm  of 
Nature  and  Art,  so  far  as  the  child  has  examined  it,  assumes  as 
known  only  what  the  child  knows,  —  not  what  the  teacher  knows, 
—  and  works  from  the  well  known  to  the  obscurely  known,  and 
so  onward  and  upward  till  the  learner  can  enter  the  fields  of 
science  or  abstract  thought.  It  is  that  which  develops  the  abstract 
from  the  concrete,  —  which  develops  the  idea,  then  gives  the  term. 
It  is  that  which  appeals  to  the  intelligence  of  the  child,  and  that 
through  the  senses  until  clear  and  vivid  conceptions  are  formed, 
and  then  uses  these  conceptions  as  something  real  and  vital.  It  is 
that  which  follows  Nature's  order  —  the  thing,  the  conception,  the 
word ;  so  that  when  this  order  is  reversed,  —  the  word,  the  con- 
ception, the  thing,  —  the  chain  of  connection  shall  not  be  broken. 
The  word  shall  instantly  occasion  the  conception,  and  the  concep- 
tion shall  be  accompanied  with  the  firm  conviction  of  a  correspond- 
ing external  reality.  It  is  that  which  insists  upon  something 
besides  mere  empty  verbal  expressions  in  every  school  exercise,  — 
in  other  words,  expression  and  thought  in  place  of  expression  and 
no  thought.  It  is  that  which  cultivates  expression  as  an  answer  to 
an  inward  pressing  want,  rather  than  a  fanciful  collection  of  pretty 
phrases  culled  from  different  authors,  and  having  the  peculiar  merit 
of  sounding  well.  It  is  that  which  makes  the  school  a  place  where 
the  child  comes  in  contact  with  realities  just  such  as  appeal  to  his 
common  sense,  as  when  he  roamed  at  pleasure  in  the  fields,  —  and 
not  a  place  for  irksome  idleness  —  not  a  place  where  the  most 
delightful  word  uttered  by  the  teacher  is  "dismissed."  It  is  that 
which  relieves  the  child's  task  only  by  making  it  intelligible  and 


12  OBJECT   TEACHING. 

possible,  not  by  taking  the  burden  from  him.  It  bids  him  examine 
for  himself,  discriminate  for  himself,  and  express  for  himself,  — 
the  teacher,  the  while,  standing  by  to  give  hints  and  suggestions  — 
not  to  relieve  the  labor.  In  short,  it  is  that  which  addresses  itself 
directly  to  the  eye  external  or  internal,  which  summons  to  its  aid 
things  present  or  things  absent,  things  past  or  things  to  come,  and 
bids  them  yield  the  lessons  which  they  infold,  —  which  deals  with 
actual  existence,  and  not  with  empty  dreams  —  a  living  realism 
and  not  a  fossil  dogmatism.  It  is  to  be  introduced  in  a  systematic 
way,  if  it  can  be  done,  —  without  much  form  where  system  is  im- 
practicable ;  but  introduced  it  should  be  in  some  way  everywhere. 
It  will  aid  any  teacher  in  correcting  dogmatic  tendencies,  by 
enlivening  his  lessons,  and  giving  zest  to  his  instructions.  He  will 
draw  from  the  heavens  above,  and  from  the  earth  beneath,  or  from 
the  waters  under  the  earth,  from  the  world  without,  and  from  the 
world  within.  He  will  not  measure  his  lessons  by  pages,  nor  pro- 
gress by  fluency  of  utterance.  He  will  dwell  in  living  thought, 
surrounded  by  living  thinkers,  —  leaving  at  every  point  the  impress 
of  an  objective  and  a  subjective  reality.  Thoughtful  himself,  he 
will  be  thought-stirring  in  all  his  teaching.  In  fact,  his  very 
presence,  with  his  thought-inspiring  methods,  gives  tone  to  his 
whole  school.  Virtue  issues  unconsciously  from  his  every 
look,  and  every  act.  He  himself  becomes  a  model  of  what 
his  pupils  should  be.  To  him  an  exercise  in  geography  will 
not  be  a  stupid  verbatim  recitation  of  descriptive  paragraphs, 
but  a  stretching  out  of  the  mental  vision  to  see  in  living 
picture,  ocean  and  continent,  mountain  and  valley,  river  and 
lake,  not  on  a  level  plane,  but  rounded  up  to  conform  to  the 
curvature  of  a  vast  globe.  The  description  of  a  prairie  on  fire, 
by  the  aid  of  the  imagination,  will  be  wrought  up  into  a  brilliant 
object  lesson.  A  reading  lesson  descriptive  of  a  thunder  storm  on 
Mount  "Washington  will  be  something  more  than  a  mere  conformity 
to  the  rules  of  the  elocutionist.  It  will  be  accompanied  with  a 
conception  wrought  into  the  child's  mind,  outstripped  in  grandeur 
only  by  the  scene  itself.  The  mind's  eye  will  see  the  old  moun- 
tain itself,  with  its  surroundings  of  gorge  and  cliff,  of  woodland 
and  barren  rock,  of  deep  ravine  and  craggy  peak.  It  will  see 
the  majestic  thunder-cloud  moving  up,  with  its  snow-white  sum- 


OBJECT   TEACHING.  13 

mits  resting  on  walls  as  black  as  midnight  darkness.  The  ear  will 
almost  hear  the  peals  of  muttering  thunder  as  they  reverberate  from 
hill  to  hill. 

A  proper  care  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  may  make  such  a  scene 
an  all-absorbing  lesson.  It  is  an  object  lesson,  —  at  least,  a  quasi- 
object  lesson, — just  such  as  should  be  daily  mingled  with  those 
on  external  realities.  To  give  such  lessons,  requires,  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher,  a  quickened  spirit,  —  a  kind  of  intellectual  regenera- 
tion. Let  him  but  try  it  faithfully  and  honestly,  and  he  will  soon 
find  himself  emerging  from  the  dark  forms  of  Judaism  into  the 
clear  light  of  a  new  dispensation.  Indeed,  this  allusion  contains 
more  than  a  resemblance. 

The  founder  of  the  new  dispensation  was  called,  by  way  of  emi- 
nence, "  The  Master."  In  him  was  embodied  and  set  forth  the  art 
of  teaching.  He  was  the  "  teacher  come  from  God  "  to  reveal  in 
his  own  person  and  practice  God's  ideal  of  teaching.  And  did  he 
not  invariably  descend  to  the  concrete  even  with  his  adult  disciples  ? 
Hence  it  was  that  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly. 

Whoever  will  study  the  lessons  given  by  him  will  see  with 
what  unparalleled  skill  he  passed  from  concrete  forms  up  to  abstract 
truths.  He  seldom  commenced  with  the  abstract.  "  A  sower 
went  forth  to  sow  ;  "  "A  certain  man  had  two  sons  ;  "  *'  I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches,"  —  are  specimens  of  the  way  he  would 
open  a  lesson  to  unfold  some  important  abstract  truth.  The  best 
treatise  on  object  teaching  extant  is  the  four  Gospels. 

Commencing  as  if  he  discovered  an  interior  fitness  in  the  object 
itself,  he  would  lay  under  contribution  the  wheat,  the  tares,  the 
grass,  the  lilies,  the  water,  the  bread,  the  harvest,  the  cloud,  or  the 
passing  event,  and  that  to  give  some  important  lesson  to  his  disciples. 

The  abstract  we  must  teach,  but  our  teaching  need  not  be  abstract. 
We  may  approach  the  abstract  through  the  concrete.  We  must  do 
it  in  many  cases.  And  the  methods  of  our  Saviour  are  the  divine 
methods,  informally  expressed  in  his  life.  I^et  us  reverently  study 
them,  and  enter  into  the  spirit  with  which  they  were  employed. 
Such,  in  brief,  are  the  fundamental  uses  of  objects  ;  such  the 
adaptation  of  the  human  mind  in  its  development  to  external 
Nature ;  such  its  growth,  and  ever  increasing  capacity  to  interpret 
the  revelations  of  her  myriad  forms  ;  and  such  the  wonderful  power 
of  lanffuaare. 


14  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

Let  US  now  commence  at  the  period  when  it  is  proper  for  a  child 
to  enter  school.  What  is  to  engross  his  attention  now  ?  In  any 
system  of  teaching,  all  concede  that  one  of  his  first  employments 
should  be  to  learn  the  new  language — the  language  of  yriiited 
symbols,  addressed,  not  to  the  ear,  but  to  the  eye.  And  here  com- 
mence the  most  divergent  paths.  The  more  common  method  is  to 
drop  entirely  all  that  has  hitherto  occupied  the  child's  attention, 
present  him  with  the  alphabet,  point  out  the  several  letters,  and  bid 
him  echo  their  names  in  response  to  the  teacher's  voice.  By  far 
the  greatest  portion  of  his  time  is  passed  in  a  species  of  confinement 
and  inactivity,  which  ill  comports  with  his  former  restless  habits. 
Usually  occupied  in  his  school  work  but  twice  —  and  then  for  a  few 
moments  only —  during  each  session,  he  advances  from  necessity, 
slowly,  and  this  imprisonment  becomes  irksome  and  offensive.  To 
one  who  is  not  blinded  by  this  custom,  which  has  the  sanction  of  a 
remote  antiquity,  the  inquiry  naturally  forces  itself  upon  his  atten- 
tion :  —  Is  all  this  necessary  ?  Must  the  child,  because  he  is  learning 
a  new  language,  forget  the  old  ?  May  he  not  be  allowed  to  speak 
at  times,  even  in  school,  and  utter  the  vital  thoughts  that  once  filled 
his  mind  with  delight  ?  May  he  not  have  some  occupation  that 
shall  not  only  satisfy  the  restless  activities  of  his  nature,  but  also 
shall  gratify  his  earnest  desire  for  knowledge  ?  Must  he  be  made 
to  feel  that  the  new  language  of  printed  letters  has  no  relation 
to  the  old  ?  Does  he  reach  the  goal  of  his  school  work,  as  too 
often  seems  the  case,  when  he  can  pronounce  words  by  looking  at 
their  printed  forms  ?  Why  not  recognize  in  the  printed  word  the 
same  vital  connection  between  the  word  and  the  thought  as  before  ? 
Why  not  follow  the  dictates  of  a  sound  philosophy  —  the  simple 
suggestions  of  common  sense,  and  recognize  the  fact  that  the  child 
comes  fresh  from  the  school  of  Nature,  where  actuals  cenes  and  real 
objects  have  engrossed  his  whole  attention,  and  have  been  the 
source  of  all  that  has  made  his  life  so  happy  ?  If  so,  then  why 
not  let  him  draw  freely  from  this  source,  while  learning  to  read, 
nay,  as  far  as  possible  make  the  very  act  of  learning  to  read  tribu- 
tary to  the  same  end,  and,  at  the  earliest  possible  time,  make  it 
appear  that  the  new  acquisition  is  but  a  delightful  ally  of  his  pres- 
ent power  to  speak  ?  The  transition  from  his  free  and  happy  life 
at  home  to  the  confinement  of  the  schoolroom  will  be  less  painful 


OBJECT    TEACHING-  15 

to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  apparent  that  the  school  is 
not  a  place  to  check,  but  to  encourage  investigation. 

Such  inquiries  as  these  have  occupied  the  minds  of  intelligent 
educators  who  have  ventured  to  question  the  wisdom  of  past 
methods.  And  they  have  led  to  the  introduction  of  methods  de- 
signed to  occupy  the  time,  and  give  interesting  employment  to  the 
children.  They  have  led  to  the  introduction  of  objects  familiar  and 
interesting.  Lessons  are  drawn  from  them  which  give  the  same  im- 
pression of  practicalness  and  reality  as  the  children  received  before 
the  restraints  of  school  life  commenced.  They  lead  to  direct  and  ani- 
mated conversation  between  the  teacher  and  the  pupils.  They  are 
thus  instrumental  in  revealing  to  the  teacher  the  defective  and 
scanty  language  of  the  children.  At  the  same  time  they  furnish  the 
best  means  for  cultivating  the  use  of  words. 

Lessons  on  objects  do  vastly  more.  By  means  of  these  the  teacher 
soon  learns  that  the  children  have  not  used  their  perceptive  faculties 
to  good  advantage.  Their  observations  have  been  careless  and 
negligent.  Their  conceptions  are  consequently  faulty.  He  has  it 
in  hispower  nowto  quicken  this  faculty,  and  correct  defective  con- 
ceptions. 

More  than  this,  he  has  a  plan  for  the  future.  The  very  points 
which  he  wishes  the  children  to  observe  now  are  to  become  here- 
after the  basis  of  scientific  knowledge.  Thus  form  and  color, 
weights  and  measures,  parts  and  qualities,  are  carefully  observed. 

So,  again,  the  very  acquisition  of  the  printed  language  becomes 
a  kind  of  object  lesson.  The  sound  of  a  familiar  word  is  given  — 
its  meaning  is  known  and  recognized  —  its  elementary  parts  are 
drawn  out  and  given  both  by  the  teacher  and  the  pupils  —  the 
characters  or  letters,  are  applied  and  placed  upon  the  blackboard. 
The  sounds  are  combined  into  the  spoken  word,  the  letters  into  the 
printed,  and  the  word,  whether  printed  or  spoken,  is  instantly  asso- 
ciated with  the  idea. 

Work  for  the  slate  is  now  prepared ;  the  letters  are  to  be  made 
by  the  children,  the  words  to  be  formed,  theme  aning  to  be  made 
out.  Reading  from  the  slate  or  the  blackboard  is  soon  commenced, 
and  it  must  have  the  peculiar  merit  of  uttering  thoughts  familiar  to 
the  child.  Any  child  can  read  understandingly  what  he  has  himself 
developed,  and  written  with  his  own  hand.     The  teacher  develops 


16  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

new  thoughts ;  but  they  are  thoughts  drawn  directly  from  present 
objects,  and  recorded  upon  the  board  or  the  slate.  They  cannot 
be  tortured  by  that  blundering,  drawling  utterance  which  the 
school-room  usually  engenders  and  tolerates. 

Language  can  be  cultivated  from  a  new  point  of  view.  The 
spoken  and  written  word  can  be  compared.  The  errors  of  home 
and  street  life  are  more  readily  corrected. 

These  several  processes  of  developing  and  writing  or  printing 
keep  all  the  children  at  work.  Instead  of  having  seven-eighths  of 
their  time  devoted  to  irksome  idleness  the  children  have  something 
to  do,  all  of  which  contributes  efficiently  to,  at  least,  three  distinct 
ends  —  learning  to  read  more  rapidly  and  more  intelligently, — 
advancing  in  useful  knowledge  for  present  purposes,  —  laying  the 
foundation  for  future  growth  by  a  correct  acquisition  of  the  elements 
of  knowledge. 

The  habit  which  children  thus  early  acquire  oi putting  on  record 
what  they  learn  or  develop  cannot  be  too  highly  valued.  In  the 
ordinary  methods  of  teaching,  they  look  upon  all  attempts  at  compo- 
sition with  a  sort  of  dread  from  which  they  seldom  recover  through 
their  whole  school  life.  But  in  this  way  from  the  beginning  they 
grow  up  to  the  daily  habit  of  composing  their  own  real  thoughts 
under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher. 

But  the  chief  and  highest  advantage  of  giving  these  lessons  lies 
not  so  much  in  any  one,  or  perhaps  in  all  of  these,  as  in  its  direct 
influence  upon  the  teacher  himself.  It  cannot  be  pursued  even 
tolerably  well  without  making  it  manifest  to  any  one  that  the  great 
object  of  teaching  is  to  deal  with  ideas  rather  than  to  crowd  the 
memory  with  words.  He  who  can  give  an  object  lesson  well 
is  capable  of  giving  any  lesson  well,  because  he  has  learned  that  it 
is  the  reality  and  not  the  expression  of  it  that  is  the  chief  object  to 
be  gained. 

He  who  makes  it  his  first,  second,  and  last  aim  to  teach  realities^ 
will  soon  discover  two  essential  conditions.  He  must  know  the  present 
capacity  and  attainments  of  the  child,  and  then  what  realities  are  suit- 
ed to  them.  If  it  were  not  for  one  fact,  our  Primary  Schools  would 
be  filled  with  a  cabinet  of  natural  objects  as  varied  as  those  that  fill 
halls  of  our  highest  institutions,  and  that  is  the  simple  fact  that  chil- 
dren can  remember  words  as  icords,  without  associating  them  with 


OBJECT   TEACHING.  17 

any  idea  whatever.  They  can  use  words  which  mean  much,  yet  with 
them  they  mean  nothing.  They  can  repeat  them  fluently  —  give 
emphasis  to  them  in  imitation  of  the  teacher's  voice.  They  can  use 
them  as  though  they  really  meant  something.  Yet  more  :  —  they 
can  see  that  the  teacher  accepts  them  as  though  all  was  right. 
Now  here  is  a  double  evil.  The  teacher  is  a  stranger  to  the  child's 
real  condition,  and  the  child  supposes  he  is  actually  learning  some- 
thing. 

One  reason  why  so  many  are  opposed  to  Object  Teaching  — 
or  Reality  Teaching,  it  should  be  called,  —  is  the  simple  fact  that 
they  cannot  readily  free  themselves  from  the  impression  that  their 
knowledge  of  the  subjects  to  be  taught  is  somehow  necessarily 
connected  with  the  language  of  the  text  book.  They  have  never 
tried  to  disengage  it  from  the  particular  forms  into  which  some 
author  has  moulded  it.  They  use  technical  terms  —  and  the  worst 
of  technical  terms,  because  they  know  no  other.  There  is  an  almost 
servile  dependence  upon  the  use  of  certain  terms.  And  if  the 
whole  truth  were  known,  it  might  appear  that  the  idea  is  not  suffi- 
ciently mastered  to  disengage  it  from  the  term.  How  can  such  a 
teacher  do  otherwise  than  cling  to  authority  ? 

Yet  the  very  essence  of  teaching  lies  in  a  living  apprehension  of 
the  subject  itself —  such  an  apprehension  as  will  enable  the  teacher 
to  adapt  his  instruction  to  the  child's  real  wants,  — just  what  a  text 
book,  if  good,  cannot  do.  "Teach  realities"  is  the  true  teacher's 
motto.  To  this  he  commits  himself,  —  nay,  crosses  the  river  and 
burns  the  bridge.  He  is  ashamed  of  his  teaching  if  it  is  anything 
short  of  this.  Hence,  his  ingenuity,  his  aptness,  his  versatility,  his 
varied  resorts  in  an  emergency.  He  can  teach  with  a  text  book,  or 
without  it.  A  text  book  in  his  hand  becomes  alive.  It  must  be 
understood. 

Would  you  reallij  know  whether  a  candidate  for  the  teacher's 
oflBce  is  a  good  teacher  or  not  ?  You  need  not  examine  him  with 
difficult  questions  in  Arithmetic,  in  Algebra,  in  Geography,  or  in 
History.  You  need  not  examine  him  at  all.  But  put  him  into 
the  schoolroom,  take  from  it  every  printed  page  for  the  use  of  the 
teacher  or  pupil.  Give  him  black  boards,  —  give  them  slates. 
Let  him  have  ears  of  corn,  pine  cones,  shells,  and  as  many  other 
objects  as  he  chooses  to  collect,  and   then  require  him  to  give  les- 

2 


18  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

sons  in  reading,  spelling,  arithmetic,  geography,  and  the  English 
language.  If  the  children  come  home  full  of  curious  questions, — 
if  they  love  to  talk  of  what  they  do  at  school,  —  if  at  the  end  of  a 
week  you  find  them  thinking  earnestly  of  their  occupation  at  school, 
—  deeply  interested,  —  intent  upon  their  school  exercises,  —  then 
employ  him,  —  employ  him  at  any  price,  though  he  may  not  have 
graduated  at  the  University,  the  Academy,  or  even  the  Normal 
School.  Whenever  needed,  allow  him  or  the  children  books.  You 
are  sure  of  a  good  school. 

How  much  is  the  spirit  of  that  teacher  improved  who  leads  his 
pupil  directly  to  the  fountain  of  truth,  and  pays  willing  homage  to  it  as 
truth  !  Teachers  may  be  divided  in  this  respect  into  three  classes. 
The  first  are  those  who  are  servilely  bound  to  a  text  book ;  who 
are  scarcely  able  to  conceive  a  truth  apart  from  the  ancient  term 
employed  to  express  it ;  who  never  see  it  in  its  freshness  ;  sticklers 
for  exact  verbal  recitations  ;  formalists,  not  to  say  dogmatists';  invet- 
erate advocates  for  authority,  and  firm  defenders  of  what  they  re- 
gard as  a  healthful  conservatism  in  education. 

The  second  are  those  who  have  so  far  broken  away  from  the 
trammels  of  methods  and  forms  as  to  investigate  the  truth  for  them- 
selves, who  taste  its  vivifying  power,  draw  from  its  pure  sources, 
but  who  are  anxious  to  promulgate  and  perpetuate,  not  so  much 
the  truth,  as  truth,  as  their  own  opinions  of  it ;  who  would  make 
themselves  the  head  of  a  party  or  school,  having  followers  who 
think  as  they  think,  believe  as  they  believe,  employ  terms  as  they 
employ  terms,  defend  methods  and  forms  as  they  defend  them  ;  in- 
fluential they  are  and  must  be.  They  do  good,  they  are  lights 
in  the  profession. 

The  third  class  are  those  who  are  anxious,  —  not  that  their 
pupils  should  see  the  truth  just  as  they  see  it,  but  that  they 
should  see  and  experience  the  truth  itself;  —  solicitous,  not  to  propo- 
gate  views,  but  living  truth  ;  not  the  E-abbi  who  would  reject  the 
audible  voice  from  above,  if  not  uttered  first  to  the  priest,  and 
through  him  to  the  people,  but  rather  Eli  bidding  the  young  prophet 
elect,  about  to  succeed  him  in  office,  to  enter  the  audience  chamber 
of  the  Almighty  to  hear  the  voice  for  himself,  —  nay,  Eli  direct- 
ing the  hoy,  his  own  pnjpil,  to  return  with  a  faithful  rejjort  of  what 
he  hears. 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  19 

These  are  they  who  rise  to  the  true  dignity  of  the  teacher's  pro- 
fession ;  who  lead  their  pupils  into  communion  with  nature,  because 
she  unfolds  the  thoughts  of  the  Eternal  One  ;  who  reverence  truth, 
rather  than  the  dogmas  of  any  sect  or  party  ;  who  aim  rather  to  ren- 
der their  own  services  unnecessary,  than  to  restrain,  for  any  selfish 
end,  a  free  access  to  the  truth. 

Such  are  some  of  the  uses  of  Object  Teaching  in  the  broad  and 
true  sense  of  the  term.  That  any  faultless  system  can  be  devised 
to  carry  it  out,  we  may  not  hope.  That  all  persons  will  be  equally 
successful  in  practising  it,  is  too  much  to  expect.  That  something 
called  Object  Teaching  has  been  tried  and  failed,  as,  with  the 
methods  employed,  it  ought  to  do,  no  one  denies.  That  some  have 
pursued  a  kind  of  Object  Teaching,  and  have  met  with  indifferent 
success,  is  also  conceded.  It  should  never  be  the  only  exercise  of 
the  school-room.  It  should  never  displace  regular  work,  but 
rather  become  a  part  of  it.  It  should  give  life  and  zest  to  it.  It 
should  never  be  made  a  hobby,  or  carried  to  an  extreme.  It  should 
never  be  used  as  an  end.  On  this  point  Mr.  Pickard,  a  member 
of  the  committee,  says  : — 

(1.)  "  I  fear  that  Object  Teaching,  as  generally  conducted,  looks  rather  to  imme- 
diate than  to  less  showy,  but  more  valuable,  results. 

(2.)  "  Its  tendency,  unless  very  carefully  checked,  is  to  make  of  children  passive 
recipients,  while  teachers  talk  more  than  they  instruct. 

(3.)  "Carefully  used,  it  will  awaken  to  new  thought,  and  will  encourage  to  the 
mastery  of  difficulties  suggested  or  rather  thrown  in  the  way  of  pupils.  But 
only  master  minds  can  so  use  it.  Not  every  school  teacher  has  the  power  of 
Agassiz. 

(4.)  "  And  yet  the  nature  of  the  child  demands  such  teaching,  and  will  not  be 
satisfied  without  it,  though  not  by  any  means,  as  1  conceive,  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
methods  of  teaching.  Object  Teaching  is  very  good  ;  but  if  it  have  no  object,  it  is 
thenceforth  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  trodden  under  foot  of  men." 

Again,  object  lessons  should  not  be  allowed  to  fall  into  a  mere 
routine,  or  to  follow  implicitly  the  models  of  some  text  book,  and 
not  the  leadings  of  the  subject  in  question,  gathering  inspiration 
from  some  incidental  circumstance  which  may  change  the  shape  of 
the  lesson.  They  may  often  be  made  more  apt  and  opportune  by 
some  occurrence,  as  a  thunder  storm,  or  the  presence  of  some 
impressive  scene.  They  should  be  varied  with  every  vary- 
ing  occasion,   varied   in  form,  varied    in    matter,  varied    in    the 


20  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

manner  of  giving  them,  and  cease  as  formal  exercises  whenever 
the  pupil  can  draw  thoughts  skilfully  and  successfully  from  the 
abstract  statements  of  a  text  book. 

There  remains  yet  one  subject  to  be  considered.  Shall  children 
never  begin  with  the  abstract  ?  Shall  they  never  commit  to  mem- 
ory forms  which  are  beyond  their  comprehension  ?  These  are  fair 
questions,  and  should  be  candidly  and  fairly  answered. 

We  will  not  say,  that  in  no  case  should  such  matter  be  commit- 
ted to  memory.  It  has  been  the  practice  for  ages.  Able  and  dis- 
tinguished educators  have  advocated  it.  The  custom  of  requiring 
simple  memoriter  recitations  prevails  in  many  of  our  schools.  Shall 
it  continue  ?  Or  shall  all  intelligent  and  earnest  educators  enter 
upon  an  important  reform  in  this  direction  ? 

The  most  strenuous  advocates  of  this  kind  of  teaching  do  not 
claim  that  for  intellectual  purposes  absti'act  statements  are  of  any 
material  value  till  explained  or  illustrated,  or  till  the  mind  of  the 
learner  has  grown  up  to  them.  They  readily  admit  that,  while 
borne  in  mind  by  mere  force  of  memory  as  words,  they  can  yield 
no  immediate  fruit.     But  they  claim  — 

1.  That  such  work  furnishes  the  children  something  to  do  in  the 
way  oi private  or  solilanj  study  between  the  hours  of  recitation,  and 
does  much  towards  establishing  early  habits  of  study. 

2.  That  the  very  act  of  committing  to  memory  is  a  good  discipline 
for  that  faculty. 

3.  That  the  terse  and  well-considered  statements  of  a  good  text 
book  are  better  than  any  that  the  learner  can  substitute,  and  are, 
therefore,  good  models  of  the  use  of  language. 

4.  That,  if  held  in  the  memory  sufficiently  long,  these  statements 
will  at  length  yield  up  their  meaning,  at  first  faintly,  later  along 
more  clearly,  and  finally  with  their  full  significance  and  breadth 
of  meaning. 

5.  That  they  are  ever  furnishing  the  child,  ready  at  hand,  sub- 
jects for  an  intellectual  struggle,  being  results  which  minds  more 
mature  than  his  have  reached  by  processes  of  thought  to  which  he 
should  always  aspire. 

6.  That  the  power  to  utter  forms  of  thought  at  present  not  com- 
prehended inspires  in  the  learner  a  most  salutary  habit  of  paying 
due  deference  to  authority;  of   looking  with    veneration  —  even 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  21 

reverence  —  upon  the  productions  of  the  gifted  minds  both  of  our 
own  times  and  of  the  distant  past,  and  that  there  can  be  no  better 
cure  for  flippancy  and  self-conceit. 

To  consider  these  points,  which  we  hope  have  been  fairly  stated, 
and  to  which  we  are  inclined  to  give  due  weight,  let  us  resume  the 
subject  of  conceptions  or  concepts,  partially  examined  in  a  previous 
part  of  this  report. 

When  all  the  parts,  attributes,  marks,  or  qualities,  etc.,  which 
make  up  an  individual  object,  are  brought  together  into  one  whole, 
we  have  a  concept  only  in  its  depth  or  intention.  If  we  give  it  a 
name,  —  which  for  the  present  shall  apply  to  this  one  object  alone, — 
the  name  calls  up  the  conception,  and  we  realize  it  by  itsybrm  and 
image.  Let  us  call  it  a  concrete  concept.  At  an  early  period  the 
faculty  of  comparison  is  called  into  exercise.  The  understanding 
begins  to  elaborate  the  material  which  the  perceptive  faculty  has 
received.  The  terrier  with  which  the  child  has  played  so  often 
resembles  others  which  he  meets,  in  so  many  particulars,  that  he 
instinctively  applies  the  term  terrier  to  each  and  all  which  bear  the 
characteristic  marks  of  this  species.  But  to  do  this,  he  has  sacrificed 
so  many  individual  characteristics,  such  as  form,  size,  color,  etc.,  that 
the  concept  thus  extended  has  lost  its  power  of  presenting  to  the 
eye  of  the  mind  any  individual  of  the  species,  and  must  continue 
so  until  to  some  one  of  the  class  the  mind  restores  all  the  marks, 
qualities,  or  characteristics  which  have  been  ta7ce7i  atcay  —  that  is, 
abstracted  —  from  it.  It  extends  to  many  individuals,  but  has 
deprived  each  of  many  characteristic  marks.  The  concept  or  concep- 
tion, thus  considered,  may  be  called  abstract,  and  cannot  be  realized 
hy  form  or  image  as  before. 

But  the  work  of  abstraction  does  not  stop  here.  Deprive  this 
concept  of  a  few  of  its  marks,  do  the  same  with  that  of  the  span- 
iel, the  hound,  the  mastiff,  the  jyo inter,  etc.,  and  the  remaining  marks 
unite  in  one  higher  concept  embracing  each  species  directly,  and 
each  individual  indirectly,  and  thus  we  have  the  one  concept  of 
concepts,  called  dog.  In  a  similar  manner  we  rise  to  the  higher 
concept  carnivora  ;  still  higher  to  maMmaVia  ;  and  so  on  to  animal ; 
till  at  length  we  end  in  thing  or  being.  And  here  we  have  an 
abstract  concept  of  the  highest  order.  Now  it  is  perfectly  obvious 
that,  at  every  stage  of  advancement  in  this  hierarchy  of  concepts, 


»»  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

what  is  gained  in  one  direction  is  lost  in  the  other.  At  every 
stage  the  concept  is  more  difficult  to  be  realized.  Almost  any  child 
would  shrink  from  the  attempt  to  ascend  the  scale.  And  yet  how 
often  children  must  use  such  terms  as  being,  science,  art,  etc.,  if 
they  learn  the  definitions  contained  in  books  ! 

Now  in  the  judgment  of  mature  minds  it  is  the  peculiar  merit 
of  a  text  book  or  treatise,  that  it  is  co7nprehensive  ;  that  is,  that  its 
terms  are  so  abstract  as  to  embrace  the  whole  subject.  And  to  a 
thoroughly  disciplined  mind,  the  test  of  an  author's  skill  is  his 
nice  adjustment  of  these  abstract  terms.  Hence  you  hear  the  com- 
mendation :  "I  admire  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  rules  and 
definitions."  This  is  a  commendation  for  any  text  book.  And 
that  which  makes  it  so  good  for  the  scholar  is  what  makes  it  so 
bad  for  the  child.  He  commits  the  beautifully  comprehensive 
terms  to  the  memory,  but  nothing  to  the  understanding,  simply 
because  he  has  never  been  able  to  ascend  the  lofty  scale  of 
abstractions  sufficiently  high  to  reach  the  meaning. 

All  philosophy  unites  in  condemning  the  practice  of  descending 
with  children  so  deep  into  concrete  forms  as  to  draw  out  distinc- 
tions and  terms  which  belong  to  science.  Such  work  should  be 
postponed. 

What  philosophy  is  that  which  would  bid  a  child  pass  to  the 
other  extreme,  and  bear  in  his  memory  for  years  the  names  of  con- 
ceptions which  can  be  realized  only  by  ascending  through  a  contin- 
ued series  of  abstractions  ? 

The  true  philosophy  would  seem  to  be  to  begin  with  the  con- 
crete forms  around  us,  and  while  we  should  be  careful  on  the  one 
hand  not  to  penetrate  too  deep  in  our  search  of  individual  attri- 
butes and  characteristics,  we  should  be  equally  careful,  on  the  other 
hand,  not  to  rise  too  high  into  the  regions  of  abstract  thought,  but 
advance  in  both  directions  as  the  growing  capacities  of  the  learner 
will  admit. 

With  this  aspect  of  our  conceptions,  let  us  examine  the  several 
arguments  for  committing  to  memory  abstract  statements,  as  yet  not 
understood. 

That  the  committing  to  memory  of  such  statements  does  furnish 
employment  for  the  children,  all  will  admit.  That  the  employment 
is  a  good  one,  is  not  so  clear.     Yet  it  is  better  than  none,  —  always 


OBJECT   TEACHING. 


preferable  to  unmitigated  idleness.  Kagged  and  hungry  children 
had  better  be  employed  in  providing  food  and  clothing  for  their 
prospective  wants  at  the  period  of  maturity  rather  than  be  allowed 
to  roam  the  streets  without  occupation.  But  in  looking  upon  their 
present  pressing  needs,  you  could  but  exclaim  at  the  misfortune 
of  their  lot,  when  all  around  them  the  most  attracting  fields,  with 
rewards  for  present  use,  were  inviting  them  to  labor.  So  it  is  in 
school.  Children  may  be  fully  occupied  upon  concrete  forms 
which  are  fitted  for  present  use,  will  contribute  to  their  intel- 
lectual growth,  and  will  give  zest  and  enjoyment  at  the  same  time, 
and  aid  them  in  rising  to  the  simpler  abstractions. 

As  to  the  second  argument,  that  the  act  of  committing  to  memory 
even  words  is  an  exercise  of  the  memory.  We  admit  it,  but  can- 
not call  it  a  good  one.  How  much  better  the  exercise  would  be,  if 
at  the  same  time  the  thoughts  were  understood  ;  how  much  more 
readily  the  memory  would  retain  the  expressions  themselves  ;  how 
much  more  philosophical  and  natural  the  associations  ;  how  much 
more  healthful  the  habits  which  would  ensue  ;  and  how  needless 
the  practice  when  the  children  can  just  as  well  be  required  to  com- 
mit what  they  understand ! 

In  respect  to  the  cultivation  of  language,  enough  has  already 
been  said.  No  more  unphilosophical  or  ineffectual  method  could 
be  adopted  than  to  force  upon  the  memory  even  the  choicest 
expressions,  if  they  convey  no  thought. 

It  is  true  that  mere  expressions  may  be  retained  in  the  memory, 
—  and  it  is  also  true  that  they  may,  after  a  time,  yield  their  appro- 
priate meaning,  —  but  admitting  this,  how  much  better  it  would 
be  for  children  to  commit  to  memory  what  they  can  understand, 
what  will  administer  to  their  present  growth !  Besides,  the  habits 
of  retaining  in  the  mind  undigested  expressions  has,  in  one  respect, 
a  most  pernicious  effect.  The  mind  becomes  hardened  into  a  state 
of  intellectual  indifference  as  to  the  meaning  of  words —  a  kind  of 
mental  dyspepsia  which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  eradicate.  Then, 
again,  instead  of  faint  glimmerings  of  the  true  meaning,  children 
are  quite  as  apt  to  attach  to  abstract  expressions  fanciful,  inappro- 
priate or  absurd  significations,  which  haunt  and  annoy  them  up  to 
mature  life.  In  all  this  we  refer  to  expressions  wholly  beyond 
their  capacity. 


24  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

The  time  will  come  when  children  must  deal  with  abstract  thought 
presented  in  text  books  ;  when  instead  of  passing  from  objects  to 
terms,  from  verities  to  statements,  the  order  must  be  reversed  ;  they 
must  interpret  terms,  verify  statements  ;  in  other  words,  draw 
thoughts  from  books.  And  this  is  an  important  part  of  school 
training.  If  wisely  arranged,  their  studies  will  lie  within  their 
reach.  The  thoughts,  though  abstract,  will  not  be  found  so  high 
in  the  scale  of  conceptions  as  to  be  wholly  beyond  their  capacity 
—  though  higher  it  may  be  than  they  have  as  yet  ascended.  Shall 
they  commit  the  statements  of  such  thoughts  to  memory  ?  That 
is,  in  preparing  their  lessons  from  books,  if  some  passages  shall  not 
be  understood  at  the  time,  shall  they,  notwithstanding,  be  learned 
for  discussion  at  the  time  of  recitation  ? 

In  many  cases  we  should  most  certainly  say,  yes  ;  not  because, 
intrinsically,  it  is  always  the  best  thing  for  the  learnei*,  but  from 
the  necessities  of  the  case,  and  because  the  struggle  for  possible 
thought,  with  the  assurance  that  ultimate  victory  is  near  at  hand, 
is  always  salutary.  And  here  the  skilful  teacher  will  hold  the 
problem  before  the  learner  in  such  a  way  that  the  relief  itself 
shall  be  the  reward  of  effort ;  and  this  leads  directly  to  the  answer 
of  the  fifth  point.  The  struggle  will  be  healthful  only  when 
the  thought  is  within  the  pupil's  reach.  Otherwise,  it  will  lead  to 
discouragement  or  utter  prostration. 

We  come  now  to  consider  a  point  which  is  strongly  urged,  es- 
pecially by  those  of  a  conservative  tendency,  —  namely,  that  the 
masterly  thoughts  of  gifted  minds,  even  though  not  understood, 
have  the  beneficial  effect  of  inspiring  reverence  for  standard  author- 
ity, and  in  checking  shallowness  and  conceit.  Be  it  so.  These 
are  qualities  that  should  receive  the  teacher's  attention  ;  the  one  to 
be  cultivated,  the  other  suppressed.  Every  teacher  should  watch 
with  jealous  care  all  moral  developments.  But  in  a  question  of 
intellectual  culture  let  us  not  suffer  any  incidental  issue  to  turn  our 
thoughts  from  the  main  question. 

Children  and  adults  will,  on  all  sides,  come  in  contact  with  both 
the  uncomprehended  and  the  incomprehensible.  Providence  has 
placed  us  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  and  the  sublimely  great.  We  can- 
not avoid  being  awe-struck  and  humbled.  If,  nevertheless,  the 
young  will  persist  in  their  conceits^  administer  whole  pages  of  But- 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  25 

lers's  Analogy,  but  do  it,  just  as  a  physician  administers  colchicum, 
for  the  purpose  of  depletion,  —  not  to  promote  growth.  In  the 
processes  of  teaching  the  young  to  comprehend  thought,  we  should 
never  sacrifice  time  and  strength  by  beginning  with  the  highly 
abstract  and  difficult.  The  principles  on  this  point  have  already 
been  laid  down. 

We  come  now  to  the  final  question  :  —  Does  the  plan  pursued 
at  Oswego  conform  to  these  general  principles  ? 

We  answer  unhesitatingly  —  in  the  main  it  does.  It  may  not 
be  right  in  all  its  philosophy,  or  in  all  its  practice.  Whether  the 
practice  is  better  than  the  philosophy,  or  the  philosophy  than  the 
practice,  we  will  not  pretend  to  say.  Neither  is  it  our  object  or 
purpose  to  appear  as  champions  of  the  system,  to  defend  it  against 
attacks,  or  to  cover  up  what  is  faulty.  We  simply  appear  to  report 
it,  and  our  opinions  upon  it-,  so  far  as  the  examinations  of  one 
week  will  enable  us  to  do. 

But  what  is  the  Oswego  system  ?  The  schools  of  the  city  —  a 
city  of  some  twenty-three  thousand  inhabitants,  —  are  divided  into 
four  grades, —  Primary,  Junior,  Senior,  and  High,  —  correspond- 
ing to  the  Primary,  Secondary  or  Intermediate,  Grammar,  and 
High  schools  of  other  cities.  Besides  these  grades,  there  is  an  un- 
classified school  continued  through  the  year,  to  meet  the  wants  of 
pupils  who  are  not  well  adapted  to  the  graded  schools ;  and  yet 
another  kept  in  winter,  to  accommodate  those  who  can  attend  only 
during  that  season.  Each  grade  is  subdivided  into  classes  named 
in  the  order  of  rank  from  the  lowest,  C,  B,  A.  Something  like  the 
object  system  was  introduced  in  1859.  But  in  1861,  these  pecu- 
liar features  were  more  fully  developed.  Previous  to  the  last  date, 
the  schools  were  in  session  six  hours  per  day.  Since  that  time 
the  daily  sessions  have  been  shortened  one  hour  in  all  the  schools. 

The  peculiar  system  called  the  "  object  system  "  was  introduced 
at  first  into  only  the  Primary  grade.  In  1861,  it  had  gained  so 
much  favor  with  the  School  Board,  that  a  Training  School  was  estab- 
lished under  the  direction  of  Miss  Jones,  from  the  Home  and  Colo- 
nial Institution,  London.  At  present  the  system  has  reached  the 
Junior  schools,  and  now  prevails  throughout  the  two  lower  grades. 

The  Training  School,  which  forms  a  prominent  feature  of  the  sys- 
tem, is  at  present  established  in  the  Fourth  Ward  school  building. 


»b  OBJECT   TEACHING. 

Besides  the  Training  School,  this  building  contains  a  city  Primary 
with  its  classes  A,  B,  C,  —  a  Junior  A,  B,  C,  and  a  Senior  A,  B, 
C.  Each  Primary  and  each  Junior  school  throughout  the  city  is 
provided  with  a  permanent  principal  and  permanent  assistant  for 
each  of  the  classes.  In  the  Fourth  Ward  schools,  however, 
only  one  assistant  is  permanently  appointed.  The  place  of  the  sec- 
ond assistant  is  supplied  from  the  Training  School.  The  exercises 
in  these  two  grades  are  the  same  throughout  the  city  —  except  in 
the  building  of  the  Training  School,  where  additional  exercises,  here- 
after to  be  described,  are  introduced.  In  this  building,  then,  we 
shall  find  the  ordinary  lessons  in  "  Object  Teaching  "  as  well  as  the 
peculiar  lessons  of  the  Training  School.  Let  us  enter  any  Primary 
school  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  with  the  C  class  at  the  age  of 
five,  fresh  from  home  life,  for  the  first  time  to  enter  upon  school 
duties.  They  come  with  their  slates  and  pencils  —  and  this  is  all. 
Their  first  exercise  is  not  to  face  the  alphabet  arranged  in  vertical 
or  horizontal  column,  and  echo  the  names  of  the  letters  after  the 
teacher  in  response  to  the  question,  —  "  What  is  that  ?  "  —  a  ques- 
tion the  teacher  knows  they  cannot  answer,  and,  therefore,  ought 
not  to  ask.  But  some  familiar  object,  one  of  the  boys  of  the  class, 
it  may  be,  is  placed  before  them,  and  called  upon  to  raise  his  hand 

—  the  class  do  the  same.  This  is  beginning  with  the  known. 
Then  he  is  called  upon  to  raise  his  right  hand.  This  may  be  an 
advance  into  the  obscurely  known ;  the  class  do  the  same  if  they 
can  make  the  proper  distinction  ;  if  not.  the  first  lesson  marks  clear- 
ly the  distinction  between  the  right  hand  and  the  left.  Something 
real  and  tangible  is  done.  The  children  can  now  distinguish 
between  the  right  ear  and  the  left  ear,  the  right  eye  and  the  left 
eye.     Here  is  acquired  knowledge  applied. 

But  what  of  their  slates  ?      The  teacher  may  first  give  a  lesson 

—  inactical  of  course  — on  the  use  of  the  slate  and  pencil.  Stand- 
ing at  the  black  board,  she  utters  the  sound  represented  by  some 
letter,  as  /.  The  class  utters  it.  They  repeat  it,  till  the  sound 
becomes  a  distinct  object  to  the  ear.  She  then  prints  upon  the 
board  the  letter  t.  This  becomes  an  object  to  the  eye.  She  points 
to  it  and  gives  the  sound  —  they  repeat  the  sound.  She  points 
again,  they  repeat.  She  gives  the  sound,  they  point.  Two  objects 
are  associated.      Now  in  their  seats  the  letter  t  is  to  be  made  upon 


OBJECT   TEACHING.  27 

their  slates  till  the  next  lesson  is  given.  In  this  second  lesson  an 
advance  is  made  upon  the  parts  of  the  human  body,  or  another 
sound  —  as  the  short  sound  of  a  is  given,  then  the  character  as 
before.  Now  the  two  sounds  are  put  together  —  then  the  two 
letters.  Two  objects  are  combined,  and  we  have  the  word  at.  But 
before  this  lesson  is  given,  the  children  go  through  with  a  series 
of  physical  exercises.  Perhaps,  next,  the  whole  class  is  sent  to  the 
sides  of  the  room.  Here  is  a  narrow  shelf,  answering  both  as  a 
table  and  a  ledge  to  the  black  board.  Under  this  are  apartments 
containing  beans.  The  children  take  them  one  by  one  and  count. 
They  arrange  them  in  sets  of  two  or  three,  etc.  They  unite  one 
and  one,  that  is,  bean  to  bean,  —  one  and  two,  etc.  They  take  away 
one  from  two,  one  from  three,  and  so  on.  They  now  return  to 
their  seats  and  make  marks  upon  their  slates,  to  take  the  place  of 
the  beans.  In  short  this  Primary  room  is  a  busy  workshop  —  not 
one  idle  moment. 

One  year  is  passed  in  this  manner.  The  children  have  learned 
many  useful  lessons  ;  have  mastered  a  set  of  Reading  Cards  —  have 
learned  to  spell  many  words  involving  the  short  sounds  of  the 
vowels  and  most  of  the  consonants.  They  have  lessons  on  form 
and  color,  on  place  and  size  ;  on  drawing,  or  moral  conduct ; 
and  these  are  changed  once  in  two  weeks. 

They  are  now  promoted  to  the  B  class.  They  commence  read- 
ing from  the  primer.  They  can  write  upon  their  slates  and  form 
tables.  They  have  Object  lessons  more  difficult  and  more  inter- 
esting. They  can  read  the  statement  of  the  facts  developed  as  they 
are  drawn  off  upon  the  board.  They  can  write  them  themselves. 
They  now  learn  to  make  their  own  record  of  facts  upon  their  slates. 
Their  written  work  is  examined  and  criticised.  They  read  their 
own  statements,  and  do  it  with  ease  and  naturalness,  because  the 
thoughts  are  their  own.  They  learn  to  represent  numbers  with 
figures.  They  make  out  numerical  tables  for  addition  and  sub- 
traction, not  by  copying,  but  by  actual  combinations  with  beans  or 
3therwise.  They  thus  realize  these  tables.  In  short,  a  mingling 
of  Object  lessons  with  writing,  spelling,  reading,  singing,  physical 
exercise,  adding,  subtracting,  multiplying,  dividing,  elementary 
geography,  and  natural  history,  occupies  their  attention  through 
the  first  three  years.      All  the  lessons  are  given  objectively.     The 


28  OBJECT    TEACHING. 

children  realize  what  they  learn  ;  and  this  is  not  the  mere  theory  of 
the  system,  it  is,  in  the  main,  the  actual  working  of  the  plan. 
The  schools  are  not  all  equally  good.  The  teachers  are  not  all 
equally  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  system.  There  were  fail- 
ures. There  were  misconceptions  of  the  objects  aimed  at,  and 
misconceptions  of  the  method  of  reaching  it.  There  were  given 
lessons  which  were  superior  —  even  brilliant.  Others  were  fair 
—  perhaps  moderate. 

In  the  junior  grade,  similar,  but  more  advanced  lessons  are 
given,  until  the  pupils  are  prepared  for  the  senior  schools,  where 
these  peculiar  characteristics  cease.  As  to  the  time  occupied  by 
these  peculiar  lessons,  —  or  general  exercises,  —  it  should  be  said 
that  two  exercises  per  day  are  given  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty 
minutes  each  in  the  Primary  schools,  and  one  only  in  the  junior. 
And  yet  be  it  remembered  that  all  the  exercises  in  the  ordinary 
school  work  are  intended  to  be  true  object  lessons. 

Let  us  now  pass  to  the  Training  school.  Here,  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind,  are  regular  Primary  and  Junior  schools  under  permanent 
teachers,  who  act  the  part  both  of  model  teachers  and  critics  before 
the  members  of  the  Normal  school  — or  Training  class.  The 
members  of  this  class  become  alternately  pupils  and  teachers, 
known  under  the  name  of  pupil-teachers.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
term  they  are  assigned  to  act  as  assistants  one  half  day  and  as  pupils 
the  other,  alternating  with  each  other  during  the  term,  so  that  each 
may  go  through  every  exercise.  The  regular  teacher  gives  a  les- 
son to  the  class.  The  assistants  observe  and  mark  the  methods  as 
models  for  imitation  both  as  respects  the  steps  in  the  lesson,  and 
the  management  of  the  class  under  instruction.  One  of  the  assist- 
ants—  a  pupil-teacher  —  next  gives  a  lesson.  She  is  now  under  a 
double  criticism,  first  from  her  equals  — the  other  pupil-teachers 
present ;  and  second,  from  the  regular  teacher.  She  is  not  doing 
fictitious,  but  real  teaching.  She  has  not  first  to  imagine  that  a 
class  of  adults  is  a  class  of  children,  and  then  she  is  to  give  a 
specimen  lesson.  Nor  has  she  a  class  of  specimen  children. 
She  has  a  class  of  children  sent  to  school  for  real  purposes,  by 
parents  who  entertain  other  views  than  to  have  their  sons  and 
daughters  made  mere  subjects  for  experimenting. 

There  is  work  under  the  feeling  of  responsibility,  with  all  the 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  29 

natural  desire  to  succeed  —  nay,  to  excel.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  merits  or  demerits  of  her  lesson  will  be  pretty  surely 
made  known  to  her. 

The  superiority  of  this  plan  over  any  other  for  Normal  training 
is  obvious.  Some  of  these  pupil-teachers  evinced  great  presence 
of  mind  and  no  little  skill. 

But  now  the  scene  changes ;  these  pupil-teachers  return  to  the 
room  of  the  training  class,  and  their  places  are  supplied  by  the 
retiring  set.  In  this  room  the  theory  of  teaching  is  discussed,  and 
exemplified  by  practical  lessons  given  by  the  Normal  teachers  to 
small  classes  of  children  brought  in  from  the  Primary  or  Junior 
grades.  These  lessons  are  to  be  drawn  off  by  the  class  and  exam- 
ined as  illustrations  of  the  theory.  Then,  again,  a  pupil  is  called 
upon  to  give  a  lesson  to  a  similar  class  —  while  both  the  training 
class  and  teacher  act  as  critics.  The  points  of  excellence  and  of 
defect  are  freely  discussed,  and  practical  hints  as  to  the  method  of 
the  lesson,  its  eifect  upon  the  class,  etc.,  etc.,  are  freely  given. 
Under  this  kind  of  training,  a  most  efficient  corps  of  teachers  is 
prepared  to  fill  all  vacancies,  and  give  increased  vitality  to  the 
schools  throughout  the  city. 

The  system  has  been  modified  from  time  to  time  as  new  sugges- 
tions have  come  up,  or  as  theoretic  plans  have  been  tested.  Farther 
experience  will  undoubtedly  result  in  other  changes. 

The  lessons  in  the  English  language  had  some  points  of  great 
merit. 

The  habit  of  writing  exercises  by  all  the  pupils  every  hour  of  the 
day  cannot  fail  to  secure  ease  of  expression  with  the  pen.  And  with 
the  incessant  care  that  is  practised  at  the  outset  by  the  teachers  to 
secure  neatness  and  order  in  the  writing,  correctness  in  the  use  of 
capitals  and  punctuation  marks,  accuracy  of  expression,  and  fluiltless 
spelling,  is  laying  a  most  excellent  foundation  for  a  high  order  of 
scholarship. 

The  opportunity  for  cultivating  correct  habits  of  conversation 
which  is  afforded  during  the  object  lessons  does  more  than  any  other 
one  thing  to  promote  a  good  use  of  language  in  speaking.  The  chil- 
dren are  uttering  living  thought,  and  not  text-book  language.  T  heir 
own  habits  of  using  words  come  out  conspicuously,  and  are  made 
subjects  of  cultivation. 

4r)Ofsi  ^ 


6{J  OBJECT   TEACHING. 

The  more  formal  lessons  in  language  were  in  the  main  admirably 
conducted.  Here  the  teacher  made  use  of  objects  present,  or  the 
conceptions  of  familiar  objects  absent,  and  accepted  for  the  time  any 
or  all  of  the  various  expressions  employed  by  the  pupils  to  enume- 
rate their  ideas  of  the  same  action  or  event.  Then  came  the  ques- 
tion of  a  final  choice  among  them  all.  A  box  was  moved  along  the 
table,  and  the  children  gave,  "  The  box  moves,  is  pushed,  is  shoved, 
slides,  etc."      A  very  large  majority  chose  the  expression  "  slides.^' 

Occasionally,  the  sentences  and  forms  of  expression  had  a  bookish 
aspect,  and  lacked  spontaneousness  ;  and  there  were  enough  of  these, 
if  captiously  seized  upon  to  make  the  method  appear  ridiculous. 
So  again  expressions  and  terms  wese  sometimes  evolved,  which 
would  not  be  out  of  place  in  a  scientific  treatise.  These  were 
accepted  of  course.  But  if  used  too  frequently  they  would  seem 
like  the  coat  of  a  young  man  placed  upon  a  mere  boy. 

These,  however,  at  most  were  but  spots  on  the  face  of  the  sun. 
The  whole  plan  was  admirable  in  theoiy  and  in  practice. 

The  spelling  exercises  were  multiplied  and  varied.  They  had 
regular  spelling  lessons.  They  wrote  words  upon  the  slate. 
They  wrote  on  the  board.  They  spelled  orally  for  the  teacher 
when  she  wrote,  and  they  spelled  on  all  occasions. 

On  the  whole,  the  view  which  Mr.  Camp,  the  Supt.  of  Public 
Schools  for  the  State  of  Connecticut,  a  membei*  of  this  Com- 
mittee, gives  of  his  observations  on  Object  Teaching,  were  fully  con- 
firmed here.  He  says  :  —  "  Having  had  an  opportunity  to  observe 
the  methods  pursued  in  Object  Teaching  in  Boston,  Mass.,  Oswego, 
N.  Y.,  Patterson,  N.  J.,  and  at  Toronto  and  Montreal,  Canada, 
and  in  connection  with  other  methods  in  some  other  places,  I  will, 
at  your  request,  give  the  results,  as  they  appeared  to  me.  When 
ever  this  system  has  been  confined  to  elementary  instruction,  and 
has  been  employed  by  skilful,  thorough  teachers  in  unfolding  and 
disciplining  the  faculties,  in  fixing  the  attention,  and  awakening 
thought,  it  has  been  successful.  Pupils  trained  under  this  system 
have  evinced  more  of  quickness  and  accuracy  of  perception,  care- 
ful observation,  and  a  correctness  of  judgment  which  results  from 
accurate  discrimination,  and  proper  comparisons.  They  have 
seemed  much  better  acquainted  with  the  works  of  nature,  and 
better  able  to  understand  allusions  to  nature,  art,  and  social  life,  as 


OBJECT    TEACHING.  •  31 

found  in  books.  But  when  '  Object  Lessons  '  have  been  made 
to  supplant  the  use  of  books  in  higher  instruction,  or  when 
scientific  knowledge  has  been  the  principal  object  sought  in  these 
lessons,  the  system  has  not  been  successful,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  observe  the  results." 

In  conclusion,  it  should  be  said,  that  it  is  no  small  commenda- 
tion of  the  S3'stem,  that  all  the  ground  formerly  gone  over  in  the 
two  lower  grades  is  accomplished  now  in  the  same  time,  and  that 
in  daily  sessions  of  five  hours  instead  of  six.  The  plan  renders 
school  life  to  the  little  children  far  less  irksome  than  before.  The 
teachers  generally,  who  have  adopted  and  practised  it,  give  it  their 
unqualified  approval.  The  Board  of  Education  and  their  intelli- 
gent and  indefatigable  Superintendent  see  no  cause  to  return 
to  the  old  methods,  but,  on  the  contrary,  are  more  and  more 
pleased  with  its  practical  working.  That  the  citizens  of  a  town,  in 
former  years,  not  specially  noted  for  literary  or  educational  progress, 
should  from  year  to  year  sustain  and  encourage  it,  nay,  take  an 
honest  pride  in  increasing  the  facilities  for  carrying  it  forward,  is 
proof  positive  that  it  has  intrinsic  merit.  And  finally,  that  the 
State  of  New  York  should  make  ample  provision  to  support  its 
Training  School,  shows  that  the  thinking  men  of  the  State  see 
in  the  system  something  more  than  mere  tinsel  and  outward 
show. 


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